3.04

“Fourteen great gifts were presented at the Princess’s naming ceremony. The First Gift was the gift of Hindsight granted by the Spring Court. Which she later realised probably wasn’t as good as the pseudodragon or even the good sense of direction.” - Excerpt from The First Princess

 

A short man paused as he peered into a dark alley, adjusting his spectacles as he tried to catch a glimpse of what he saw. It was empty, save for a few piles of trash.

 

“Must’ve been imagining it,” he quietly muttered as he passed the innocuous-looking alley.

 

He melded back into the crowd, just missing a tiny, green mushroom cap popping out of the piles of trash.

 

“Squeak squeak squeak!” the green-capped wisp yelled to its’ sibling, roughly translating to: “Look! The big ones throw away so much stuff!”

 

A propped up piece of paper fell to the ground, revealing a tiny yellow capped myconid behind it, “Yeah,” it agreed.

 

“Do you know why?” Greenie asked, picking up a piece of cloth that used to be part of a shirt.

 

“I don’t know,” it replied in squeaks. His green sibling, well versed in Squeakish was able to discern the slightly higher pitch which showed a delighted tone.

 

Like his sibling, Greenie was delighted that there were so many things they did not know. It just meant more things to learn!

 

There were sooo many odd things which the big ones did. Like catching glistening lizard things with no feet from the large body of water or thrusting hidden metal things into other people inside this very alley.

 

‘Shank’ a voice inside them told.

 

Greenie paused and glanced at Yellow, and they both yipeed in glee. A new word! Greenie jumped out of the pile of loose trash, accidentally knocking over a limp arm, and clapped hands with Yellow.

 

They were getting bits and bots of knowledge from their symbiote. The large mushroom who gave them moving energy among other things. Most of the things he learned, they will learn too, it’s faster the closer they are to him somehow, but when they came to this new place with lots of people, the big mushroom started learning too! Before they were only getting old learning from the mushroom, like weird cube-shaped movers or the bright thing they needed to avoid called the sun.

 

The sun thing was like, really, really bright. Greenie tried to have a staring contest with it and hurt its eyes.

 

They figured if they were learning themselves, then they could learn what the big mushroom learned later, which meant they were each learning themselves and hence learning a lot more!

 

Though speaking of the big mushroom, where was he? Greenie and Yellow hoped he was doing some cool learning!

 

Though big mushroom probably wasn’t though. He seemed intent to read these book things. Maybe Greenie and Yellow could join him once they figured out how to read, but even he seemed to find the act boring, why did the big mushroom insist on it then? Oh well.

---

Dustin slammed his staff into a person’s head, hearing a sickening crack as the mage’s nose deformed. Before the mage even hit the floor, Dustin spat acid directly onto their face.

 

Ignoring the screaming mage on the ground, Dustin quickly threw Sneezing Spores behind him, stopping a rogue just long enough for Noam to swing around and stab them.

 

There had to be almost a hundred people here by now, magic was flying left right and centre, amidst the chaos, Dustin opened his mouth and yelled, “MATT WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY MUSHROOMS!?”

---

Big mushroom was doing something boring, but Greenie and Yellow weren’t! There was so much to explore in the city, even if they had to keep to the dark alleys because of the bright thing.

 

“Let’s explore this place more!” Greenie declared, grabbing Yellow’s arm.

 

Yellow squeaked in agreement, there was simply so much to see! Together they ventured deeper into the dark alleyway. Passing big ones laying cold and poorly hidden behind large boxes, a small dagger that seemed to scream blood and murder, weirdly dressed big ones who attached themselves to other big ones and took their money, a shiny lamp that emanated purple smoke in the shape of skulls, large scaly creatures that were growling right at them!

 

Greenie walked forward, a tiny arm waving in greetings at the scaly things. They were so cool! Their scale was rough and thick, it looked like Greenie could spend forever hitting them and never hurt them! As one of them lunged towards Greenie, it noticed that they had teeth that glinted like blades. Still, as Greenie exploded in a puff of green spores, it noticed that they weren’t immune to poison and that the one lunging at him crashed and barely missed it. Greenie noticed that the ones nearest to it all spasmed and fell limp as liquid frothed from their mouths, just out of the mist, the others recoiled back, ‘fear’, the symbiote knowledge told the both of them, ‘primal, instinctual fear’, it elaborated.

 

That was so cool!

 

These things knew fear, Yellow wondered what other things they knew, Greenie wanted to puff another time to see if they had the same reaction. Would they continue to flinch, would they run away or try to rally against them? Greenie wanted to know!

 

A larger scaled creature crawled forward, it was big, way bigger than the other scaled and came up to one of the big one's waist. Long scars raked its hide and slitted eyes cautiously watched Greenie and Yellow. Greenie pondered the stories behind those scars, while Yellow pondered what the thing was capable of. It seemed smart, it watched them behind the other scaled creatures.

 

There was so much detail to the smaller scaled as well, their scales which looked to be uniformly brown but had beautiful, yet weak patterns weaved of energy humming beneath them, how their eyes flitted in between them and the large scaled, how some seemed to be ready to run at a moments notice. How two instincts seemed to war in the smaller scaled. The larger one was keeping them here somehow, and the wisps wanted to know how and why.

 

As the green spores dissipated, the large one let out a threatening hiss, and the ones closest to it rushed forward. Yellow noticed a brief moment of hesitation in some of the scaled. Greenie let out another puff, annihilating the first wave. Wow! They all died the exact same way as before!

 

Yellow tugged the arm of Greenie, a squeak warning it of not using too much energy. Indeed, Greenie was already two down, it only had three more puffs left before it had to dissipate or recharge. Yellow was different though, its arms blurred as puffs of yellow bloomed on the snouts of the scaled. Greenie knew from experience that the yellow spores made your eyes sting, and Yellow could throw a lot of them.

 

But Yellow could only slow them, it can’t hurt things like Greenie did, though Yellow did a really good job of it, disorientating the fastest ones, causing them to clump together before Greenie puffed again, taking out more than the last two puffs combined. Greenie openly watched in wonder as it saw the bodies spasming and dying.

 

An angry hiss and the third wave came, Yellow and Greenie repeated the strategy, taking out just as many as the last puff. The last of the scaled began to run for it, whatever their leader had over them it wasn’t enough to keep going after losing most of their number. Yet the large scaled did not move, it glared coldly at the two wisps whilst staying almost stock still.

 

Then it moved.

 

In a few breaths, the scaled was upon them, knife-like teeth bared, Greenie let out a puff, covering the area with green spores once again. But the scaled was feinting, before either of them could notice, the large scaled had turned around, its large tail swiping and smashing into the both of them.

 

Greenie and Yellow hit the alley wall, however, they weren’t unduly perturbed by the impact, being small and squishy had its benefits after all.

 

Greenie curiously watched the large scaled as it clung onto the wall opposite of them.

 

Yellow threw spores towards its face, but the scaled’s head jerked away, avoiding the yellow spores blooming at where its snout had been.

 

Greenie marvelled in open amazement, Yellow was quick, but not quicker than the scaled. It weaved through blossoming clouds of yellow spores, the few times that Yellow landed a hit, it was never on its head. Then, it began retaliating.

 

Powerful tail swipes swept a dead scaled towards them, Yellow quickly grabbed Greenie and jumped to the side, the corpse landing only a few hairs from them.

 

Yellow glanced at the alleyway, now full of scaled corpses, then at Greenie, to which Greenie replied with an excited squeak. Then, both wisp mushroom hybrids began running. A few scaled corpses flew past them as the large scaled began pursuit.

 

The large scaled was so smart! It managed to so quickly find a way around both their attacks. Yellow’s spore balls had nowhere near the weight to stop a scaled body, and the attacks showed that it outranged Greenie. It throwing the corpse already spelled their defeat at that place, so Greenie and Yellow had to run. They still wanted to learn more before they had to go after all!

 

Unfortunately, the big scaled was quick. It jumped from wall to wall, just out of Greenie’s range. Yellow threw a few potshots at it occasionally, landing a few good shots as it started to aim at where the scaled would be rather than where it was, but Yellow stopped a few breaths in, shaking its head. They used the same energy to move as the spores they threw, and Yellow was nearing empty, Greenie probably couldn’t use a full blast puff again, they’ll lose the energy to run soon as well. So, in sync, both mushrooms stopped at the exact same time, turning to face the scaled.

 

The large scaled paused on a wall. Some small rocks clattered free as its claws dug into the walls. Its tail curled behind it.

 

A pregnant moment passed.

 

The scaled jumped off the wall. Yellow spore balls appeared in Yellow’s hands, Greenie began to puff- but the scaled swung around in mid-air, its tail uncurling to reveal another scaled corpse, thrown towards them from midair.

 

Greenie’s puff went off as the corpse collided against the mushrooms. The green spores spread but got blocked by the corpse, leaving a wide enough gap for the scaled to rush through and a blindspot where Yellow could not attack.

 

Yellow squeaked, ‘That was beautiful.’

 

The scaled went in for the kill, until a smaller, furred creature fell from the rooftops above them, crashing against the scaled.

 

A large wizard hat was gently wafting on the feline’s head, by all logic it should’ve been blown off by the fall, yet it remained stuck there, oversized and looking like a strong wind could blow it off.

 

With the flick of her tail, the scaled turned into kitchenware, and Zoe examined the two small magical mushrooms.

---

Two figures limped through the soft glow. One, a large mushroom covered in brownish tree bark, scarred and broken in many places, revealing soft white flesh beneath. His hand held both a wooden staff and bloodied halberd, leaning on them like a walking stick. The other, a tiefling, had an arm slung around the mushrooms neck, his other arm hung limp.

 

“We got out somehow,” Dustin muttered as he dragged Noam.

 

Noam groaned, “C’mon, let me at them.”

 

Dustin paused to slap Noam on the head, “Shut the hell up you adrenaline junky.”

 

He glanced at Noam’s body, the limp arm that had an uglier shade of purple compared to the rest of his skin, the various strips of white fungus where Dustin had to do an emergency patch up and the wet blood on his body, “How the fuck are you still standing…” Dustin muttered.

 

“Determination,” Noam muttered.

 

Dustin scoffed, “More like too stupid to feel pain.” His hand went up, going through a few motions.

 

“What are we doing now?” Noam asked.

 

“Calling for backup.”

---

Dave was a lot of things.

 

Traveller, merchant, a connoisseur of ramen, hivemind, A.I. that was debatably alive, though he didn’t want to bring that can of worms up again. Having an existential crisis for what amounted to several centuries was horrifically unproductive and the other Daves all agreed as such.

 

More recently though, Dave was intrigued. An odd group had just walked into his store, Zoe, Devourer of Aberrations, frequent customer and bribable by head scratches exactly four centimetres behind her left ear, was carrying what looked like two tiny myconids by the scruff of their necks.

 

Amanda might’ve spent a good ten minutes giggling over the inherent cuteness of the group but Dave, being a strict professional, adjusted his monocle, and greeted them as he would all customers.

 

“Welcome,” he meowed, “whatever you want or need, you can purchase here.”

 

It was no lie or boast. Already a bag of ‘exotic grasses’ was in his paw, the scent putting him in a good mood. It was some really strong stuff, to even affect him. Dave wondered how Zoe will present her money this time. Though with the nature of Zoe’s Path, successfully guessing how she does anything is a long shot.

 

The cat in question tipped her large wizard hat backwards, from the darkness within Dave saw sixty-eight rings of Traveller coins orbiting a food bowl. Dave smiled as Zoe poured out the contents, the food bowl landing first and the coins falling in perfectly stacked piles inside. The coins suddenly disappeared, and Dave placed the pouch of ‘exotic grasses’ inside the food bowl.

 

Zoe very carefully poked open the bag and sniffed it. Unintentionally letting out a content purr and dropping the two near myconids on the ground.

 

Another Dave peered at them, adjusting its monocle as it stood at eye height as the sentient- no, sapient mana stored in the form of a mushroom. They were very similar to Magic Myconids, albeit fully functional despite being the same size as newborns.

 

Due to some light ‘administrator’ privileges, Dave knew that these were Traveller familiars created by a class trainer. They were nothing the Traveller couldn’t have made themselves of course, though a class trainer giving it to them was much faster and learning types like these showed their worth over time. Their strength was also linked to a support role, something meant to enhance their Traveller’s strength. Overall a very good level purchase, not some flashy weapon but a steady tool that can always be relied upon. Dave estimated they’re worth forty-eight gold each. As high as sixty if a decent merchant did the sale. He felt that old itch again, the desire to haggle, though he swiftly put it away. A merchant he may be, the prices he offers under this brand are always fair and non-negotiable.

 

Cat Dave lightly tapped him on the head with a tail, reminding him that he had passed the amount of time that was polite for staring at customers. The tiny myconid Dave shook himself out of his stupor, before chirping, “Welcome, whatever you want or need you can purchase here.”

 

The green myconid glanced at the other, before hesitantly turning replying, “...We don’t have money.”

 

Dave mentally upped his assessment by another six gold. Mutual learning capability, passive too, they practically raised themselves. Wispshroom Dave smiled, “Of course, it’s no problem, you’re both familiars aren’t you?” they both nodded and Dave continued, “As familiars, you can make purchases on your master’s behalf, I assume that he has money…”

---

“You lost everything?”

 

“I lost everything,” Matt replied with a smile.

 

The side of my eye twitched.

 

Matt fell back slightly, wincing as he brought his hands up in the universal sign of surrender, “Hey hey, no need to get pissed dude.”

 

Peps very gently brought Matt’s damaged arm down as I stared at him, “It’s good that you’re lively,” he idly said as healing light caressed his arm.

 

I took a deep breath, “I am not mad,” I very quietly replied, my fingers massaging my brow, anger was not productive, it was never productive, “I was just… reconsidering our options.”

 

Indeed, if it were just the money or his supplies then it would’ve been fine, but both? Between the two of us, that was around half of our starting resources, how very annoying. Those supplies weren’t like equipment that became worthless the moment something with higher stats came along. Hunger was a very real threat and if the marketplace was any fair indication of the supplies worth, then that stuff Matt lost over those deaths was worth at least twenty-gold. That idiot, we’re already at a deficit compared to other players who just played safely-

 

“Even if you lose, you can always earn it back,” Peps calmly said as he finished healing Matt’s arm, “I mean, it’s not that much, is it? It’s just some starter stuff.”

 

“Yeah, that’s right!” Matt interjected, waving around his newly healed arm, “Chill out bro, we can always do quests and earn it all back.”

 

I shook my head, “It’s not that simple, with new servers, it’s always a race to see which players get to what resources first…” my voice slowly petered out. That was game logic, wasn’t it? Moreover, there was no specific reason to be worried about that.

 

I was tryharding. 

 

When did that start?

 

When did I start having fun?

 

“I know that smirk,” Matt said from the corner.

 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” I replied.

 

Matt scratched the back of his head, “What hair-brained scheme have you concocted this time profiteer?”

 

“Shut up junkie,” I simply replied.

 

“You know the drill by now,” I continued, “less than five gold between the two of us, you definitely dragged us into hard mode, we’re gonna take that paltry sum of five gold and-”

 

I froze as my hand touched the coin pouch, feeling the outlines of the contents. Key, small coins.

 

“Problem?” Matt asked, leaning forward.

 

I definitely took them out with me, there was no mistake with my memory.

 

Small coins, engraved, silvers, the change I got from the shopkeeper I bought the bottle from.

 

Key, it opens the inn room I rented.

 

Silver coins and a key.

 

A receipt from a store called ‘Daves’, made out to one Greenie and Yellow.

 

Silver coins, a key and a receipt.

 

“God fucking-”